Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Turtle and Lamprey: Savage Seas

This is kind of an experiment for me, usually I just have background characters find an excuse to involve some Legionnaires if I want to tell stories with them but this time around it seemed a bit contrived so I thought I'd try giving Turtle and Lamprey their own little mini-series!

This takes place around about the same time as all the stuff with Myriad in my main series....enjoy!

**********

VAVALLA
Persephone Savage's Underrealms Resort and Casino

On the waterworld Vavalla's equatorial belt floated a small round island with golden artificial beaches, a lush green rainforest and one towering white building which gleamed in the afternoon sun like a giant needle. This was the place to vacation for the United Planets' obscenely wealthy when Ventura was deemed too tacky and Kathoon too quaint.

Guests here had to go on a waiting list, their place in the queue determined by their social as well as financial capital. No Vavallan themselves had ever set foot on this island in any capacity other than to be employed here to serve the off-worlders who'd come to exploit their world's beauty for their own entertainment.

So when a morbidly obese green-skinned man dragged the remains of a security droid smothered in some kind of thick oozing slime right up out of the sparkling blue waters of Vavalla and on to the powdery sand which circled Persephone Savage's Underrealms Resort and Casino, the extremely wealthy guests sunning themselves on that beach were appalled.

"Sludge!" a man's voice called out from the ocean that the large man had just walked out of. "Come on buddy, don't do this! It's not worth it!"

"Don't tell me what to do, Turtle!" The man named Sludge spat out the rebreather he'd used to swim here. He dropped the security droid, turned on his heel and splattered the fit young Vavallan with the grotesque dark sludge which was his namesake. Turtle fell back into the sea knocked off-balance by the vile attack, and Sludge continued stomping toward the hotel. He growled menacingly at the closest couple of sunbathers, then chuckled at their frightened squeals. Two more security droids approached by air and Sludge bathed both of them in slime as well. One of them dropped like a lead balloon but the other still had enough control of itself to blast Sludge with a stun beam.

Impeded by the coating of slime on its metal hide as well as Sludge's immense size, the droid's weapon only fazed him slightly. Nonetheless, the large green man faltered.

"Don't worry, folks!" Everyone including Sludge now turned toward this new voice to see the familiar uniform of a Science Police officer emerging from the sea. With her oversized helmet obscuring most of her head, only the lower part of her face was visible and she was accompanied by four floating droids of her own. All of them were adorned quite clearly with the Science Police logo. The woman's face was green, though a much more vibrant green than Sludge's expanse of pea-green flesh. "I'm Officer Tayla Skott, the Science Police have things under control here!"

By law, the resort's security droids were all programmed to defer to Science Police. A quick scan confirmed Lamprey's identity, and with an obedient breep the droid which had shot Sludge took itself away for diagnostics and repairs. "Sludge! What do you think you're doing here? Where are the rest of your goons in the Legion of Substitute Villains?"

"I don't run with them no more!" Sludge jabbed a thumb into his chest for emphasis. "And that jerk Turtle has gone soft! This guy looks out for himself from now on!"

Turtle had recovered from Sludge's assault and appeared back on the beach behind Lamprey. "Buddy, it's not too late!" he pleaded. "We were no good as a team, you're not gonna do any better on your own! Sure, you might be tough enough to take on resort cops but Lamprey's a real cop!"

"He's right, Sludge!" Lamprey's hand moved cautiously toward her sidearm. "As soon as Turtle told me he turned down your invite to team up and rob this place blind, you were as good as in custody! Don't make it any harder on yourself than it has to be, this doesn't have to end violently!"

"I'm not scared of you!" Sludge retorted childishly. "Turtle told me all about you too, Officer Lamprey! And I know your power only works underwater!" He advanced on Lamprey, but before he could get close enough to use his own power Tayla whipped out her handgun and shot him right in the chest.

"Lucky for me I'm not just my power," Tayla huffed as she reholstered her weapon. Sludge toppled over backwards into the sand, his arms splayed out to both sides as if he'd just decided to nap there.

"Get those cuffs on him and get him into custody before he wakes up," Lamprey commanded the SP droids. While two of them extended a connecting plank beneath Sludge to lift him off the beach, the other two snapped power dampeners around both his wrists. A forcefield enclosed the hovering metallic stretcher, and as the robots shuffled Sludge off into the sea the crowd erupted into spontaneous applause and cheers.

"Come on, Bogdan." Lamprey raised her chin as she walked past Turtle and back toward the ocean. "I'm glad you told me what he was planning before things got out of hand...now let's leave these nice people to their vacations and get out of here." Turtle didn't turn, but instead stood staring silently at the white spire filling the sky before him. "Bogdan..?" Tayla repeated.

"I don't think I'm coming, gorgeous." The handsome youth's head drooped and he turned to face Lamprey. "I think...I think maybe today was a sign or something. There's stuff in my past I gotta face, and I can't risk you getting hurt while I do it."

Lamprey removed her helmet and approached him. She knew this was no doubt being plastered all over interplanetary social media thanks to their enrapt audience, but she didn't care. "There's no way you're this glum over the Legion of Substitute Villains," she reasoned. "This has got something to do with that time the Aquamarines came after you, hasn't it? When are you going to tell me what that was about, Turtle?"

"I...I'm sorry, gorgeous." Turtle lay a hand on her cheek. "I'm invulnerable, but you...you I have to protect. Don't try and find me, okay?"

He turned around and walked away, and Turtle realised he'd been wrong about something...

...his skin might be impervious, but Lamprey crying his name was like a dagger in his heart.

**********

EDITOR'S NOTES:
Persephone Savage is an original creation I used once over 10 years ago(!!)...she goes so far back in fact that it's before I started putting all of these stories in the one thread, but if you do want to read her only other appearance you can see that on my livejournal

If you're here I assume you're familiar with Turtle at least, but his introduction into my fanfic series was slightly different from what happened in the comics; he and Sludge (another repurposed character from the same Legion run that I stole Turtle from) were members of the Legion of Substitute Villains in my series, and yes that's as ridiculous as it sounds. Sludge's whole existence in my series is also a long way back, but you can read all two of his embarassing previous exploits here on my livejournal as well (oldest story is at the bottom)

Bogdan Tarka looked himself over in the tiled restroom's wall-length mirror. The room attendant's uniform he'd stolen was slightly too large for his athletic frame, but not so much so that anyone would notice at a quick glance. He adjusted his bow tie slightly and was about to walk out when he noticed something in his peripheral vision; a pair of bare feet visible beneath one of the toilet cubicle doors. Swearing under his breath, he picked the cubicle door's lock and adjusted the unconscious man he'd swapped clothes with so that his feet were tucked behind the toilet bowl where nobody outside would notice.

Content that he'd done the best job he could to hide his handiwork, the man also known as Turtle muttered a quick apology to his sleeping victim and quickly let himself out of the cubicle. He locked the door from the outside, adjusted the Out of Order sign, and walked out of the unisex restroom.

Keeping his head down and his visor drawn low, Turtle skirted the edges of the busy casino floor he found himself on. It was pure luck that nobody else had come into the restroom while he was taking out that poor room attendant, but he knew the man would be found sooner rather than later. He didn't have a lot of time to act.

Fortunately, everyone here was far more interested in gambling their credits away than paying attention to a slightly shabby staff member. Steering as clear of security monitors as he could without being too conspicuous, Turtle eventually found his way to a turbolift door made of gleaming gold set into a black marble wall. Avoiding eye contact with the burly guards on either side of the elevator door, Turtle held the ID card he'd swiped against a gold-framed scanner. The door breeped obediently as it opened, and Turtle nodded briefly toward one of the guards then entered the elevator.

"State your floor please," a sultry woman's voice sounded once the doors closed.

"Olympus suite," Turtle enunciated clearly.

"Olympus suite is not accessible via this elevator," the honeyed voice responded almost apologetically. "State your floor please."

Turtle sighed. He knew this had been too easy so far. "Penthouse suite," he tried.

"Penthouse suite is not accessible via this elevator," the voice replied with the exact same inflection. "State your floor please."

"Sprock," Turtle grumbled. I should have known the real high rollers would have their own private turbolifts. Inspiration struck him and he snapped his fingers. "Observation deck." From the building's observation deck he should be able to find some way to traverse the last 8 floors to his destination.

"Confirming observation deck," came the happy reply. There was the barest sensation of motion, and seconds later the door opened again with another breeping sound. Turtle stepped out into a wide corridor lined with reflective glass. He knew there was an expansive restaurant behind that glass, but the soundproofed tinted barrier was in place so that sentients could eat without having to be bothered by what would normally be a constant stream of tourists shuffling around behind them.

Right now though, Turtle's luck was holding up. A tropical storm was coming in; nothing dangerous, but the winds were already whipping up and very few people were outside in this weather. As he made his way to the resort's observation deck he noticed there were only a few other people out here; a couple embracing by the safety barrier probably trying to make the most of their honeymoon and two obviously frazzled parents marching their whining kid back inside. There were no organic security guards out here, and the security droids patrolled high and close to the building so that they were almost completely unobtrusive.

Feeling a little cocky, Turtle decided to push his luck a tiny bit further. He very rarely got to see his homeworld from this vantage point, most buildings on Vavalla were deep underwater. He was 112 stories above sea level right now though, and he decided to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of Vavalla's almost unbroken vivid blue seascape before he continued on his mission. The wind was so strong he had to hold his visor down against his head and he imagined it would no doubt chill most of the resort's visitors to the bone. The lovebirds had given up and were retreating back indoors, but even if Turtle hadn't been invulnerable to physical harm his natural Vavallan physiology was adapted to resist aquatic environments far more ferocious than anything he'd ever experienced on his planet's surface. He watched in childlike awe as black clouds came speeding in to fill up the sky above, darkening the waters beneath them at the same time.

Turtle heard a door slide shut behind him and turned around to see the building's entrance had been locked. Two security droids approached him, and it occurred to him that his lucky streak had reached its end. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked as innocently as he could manage.

The first droid looked Turtle up and down with its laser eye and breeped an announcement: "Subject Bogdan Tarka positively identified, protocol override: Turtle Retrieval."

Turtle expected the droid to fire an energy weapon upon him and was surprised when it instead released a long segmented cable. He reacted as soon as he saw it coming, but he wasn't fast enough to evade it entirely. The cable constricted tightly around his calves, and Turtle hit the deck. "Alright," he growled in response. "Let's do this, you bucket of bolts!" He grabbed the cable which was still connected to the droid and gave it a tug with muscles honed by deep sea pressure. With the droid's gyros already working hard against the oncoming storm's furious winds, it was easily taken by surprise. It came flying toward Turtle and as soon as it was in range the Vavallan youth grabbed it with one hand and pounded it with his free fist until he heard the very satisfying whirr and click of it shutting down. These droids were capable of resisting Vavallan strength, they didn't fare so well against Vavallan strength paired with indestructible knuckles.

While he was extricating himself from the first droid's snare, the second droid struck. Turtle found himself coccooned in cables, and these he couldn't break so easily. Uttering futile curses, he writhed around helplessly on the observation deck as the first heavy drops of rain fell. The surviving security droid came closer, and a hatch opened in its limbless torso to reveal a screen. On that screen was the woman Turtle had come here to confront.

"...Persephone Savage," he grumbled through gritted teeth.

"Congratulations, you've recognised one of the most famous women in the galaxy," the attractive young woman smiled like the predator she was. "You sound upset, Mr Tarka; I thought the whole reason you were causing all this mischief today was in some misguided attempt to visit me? I don't know why you've gone to so much trouble to be perfectly honest, you know full well that I've been trying to reach you for some time now. You could have just answered any one of my summons."

"Yeah well...I was happy avoiding you till you threatened people I care...cared about." Turtle cast his gaze aside darkly.

Persephone Savage's large dark eyes rolled theatrically. "Come now, Mr Tarka...you know it was inevitable that your fling with that law-abiding young green woman would end sooner or later. People like you don't romance promising Science Police officers. Besides, it isn't as though I've stopped threatening people you care about, and yet here you are!"

Turtle's brow furrowed in confusion. "What...what are you talking about, Savage?"

The screen divided in two, Persephone Savage sliding to the left. On the right hand side, Turtle saw his father strapped to a column. Senator Tarka's arms and legs were pulled back behind the large pole and his head limped restlessly forward. Turtle's eyes widened with fear as he saw the villain named Skyfin pull his father's head back to show that he was still alive. "Dad!" Turtle roared against the screaming winds.

"Calm yourself, Mr Tarka...he's fine." Persephone Savage's immaculate features once again filled the screen, smiling sweetly. "You must admit, you've not proven yourself to be the most reliable of employees. You can't blame me for wanting a little insurance.

Now...let's talk business, shall we?"

**********

In a Vavallan Science Police base prison cell, an immensely overweight green man sat in a memory foam chair playing games with a handheld controller.

"...Sludge?"

The man in the cell turned at the sound of his codename and with no small amount of effort clambered out of the seat that he almost dwarfed. "Hey, Lamprey! Did it work?"

"I think so." Lamprey was wearing the Science Police uniform which had been modified for her, but her helmet was off. She switched off the cell's forcefield with a friendly smile and handed Sludge a large cup. "I know your people can't process caffeine, I got you this kono juice instead. Thanks for your assistance with this, Turtle and I both really appreciate it. I hope you've been comfortable here?"

"Are you kidding?" Sludge beamed. "We don't even have Lobo's Revenge on Antares IV yet, this game gleams! And as far as the fake fight goes...it was kinda fun to be honest! Feels kinda good using my powers to help people...even if everyone thinks I was a bad guy I guess," he laughed.

"I've already let the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Antares know how much you helped us, thanks again." Lamprey sipped her own beverage and motioned for Sludge to follow her out to the SP base's surface entrance where a shuttle awaited him. "Have a safe trip home...maybe after this is all over, Turtle and I can see about getting you a copy of that game for yourself." She gave him a conspiratory wink, and Sludge thanked her effusively.

Lamprey watched his shuttle disappear, then turned her attention to the black clouds far off in the east. That storm would just be reaching Persephone Savage's resort around now, hopefully that wasn't a bad omen. Gulping down the last of her coffee, she marched back inside and threw the empty cup into the matter recycler.

It was time to get to work.

VAVALLA, THREE YEARS AGO

Persephone Savage's hand-picked crew had been searching the ocean floor for days now; they were low on rations, far from civilisation and the quartet of strangers were all beginning to get on one another's nerves. Vavallans rarely ventured to this isolated region of their world. Six miles below the surface, there was precious little vegetation and for some reason even the boldest of animals generally steered clear of here. The sea floor here was as barren as any asteroid and remained that way for almost a hundred miles around.

"It's warmer over there," Dagmar Kollo gestured toward a yawning chasm which seemed bottomless. Dagmar was the team's tech expert, oversized goggles giving him a wider spectrum of vision than Vavallans possessed naturally. His bodysuit was lined with pouches containing various pieces of equipment, and two minisubs bearing heavier devices floated obediently in his wake.

"Of course it is," Oosa Ooruum snapped. "It's an ancient thermal vent." The sole woman on the team, Oosa had been recruited for her wealth of knowledge about Vavalla; its history, its geography and more...she was a virtual encyclopedia when it came to her homeworld. "Old Byssopolagia is about a mile and a half down that cliff face. We're in trouble if we need to go down there though, I don't think our little surface friend's suit will survive the pressure that deep down."

The sting in Oosa's tone didn't go unnoticed to the sorceror they knew only as Sharif. His transuit deformed slightly as the thin ruddy skinned man scowled at her. "I suppose it's fortunate for me that we do not need to go down there then, isn't it? Anenkari's tomb is within our reach, I'm sure of it. I can sense his mystical emanations clearly."

"You said that at the last two sites," Oosa bit back.

"Hey, hey, we're all on the same team here...right, gorgeous?" Bogdan Tarka gave Oosa a flirtatious wink and the middle-aged woman felt blood rush to her cheeks. Bogdan was the youngest of all of them, but he was attractive and he was a charmer and he knew it. He was also an accomplished thief even in his teens, and his skills had come in handy more than once on this mission. More importantly, he was the most personable of all of them. When the sniping of the other three became too close to derailing their mission, it was always Bogdan who managed to restore calm within the group.

"That we are," Oosa agreed. "I'll let you work your magic, sorceror. The sooner we find this supposed dead god the sooner we can report back to Savage, collect our creds and never have to see each other again."

"Why did you even take this gig if you don't believe Anenkari exists?" Dagmar confronted Oosa.

"I don't believe Anenkari is a god," Oosa corrected him. "But all mythology has some basis in reality...I don't know why Persephone Savage thinks we're going to find some ancient deity down here in the middle of nowhere, but I have no doubt we'll find whatever construct the ancient Vavallans built to validate their ludicrous superstitions."

"It's here!" Sharif's voice rose excitedly. "This is it!"

The others found him floating behind something which had once been an enormous mausoleum, but had been covered in so much silt over the centuries that it had become a barely noticeable lump in the ocean floor. It was only a combination of Bogdan's Vavallan strength and some judicious use of magic on Sharif's part that unearthed enough of the structure for them to realise that it was anything more than a deviation of Vavalla's crust at all. Soon they had uncovered much of the entrance to the tomb, and two enormous golden doors loomed before them. The door handles looked almost like the hilts of two swords, and around the doorframe was a jagged red scrawl. They'd seen enough artifacts on this trip to recognise the red patterning as ancient Vavallan inscription but only one of them had any hope of deciphering the text. "Sharif is right," Oosa mumbled with something approaching reverence. "This...this really is the tomb of Anenkari!"

"Sensors can't penetrate that structure, I don't know what the metal's made of." Dagmar stepped forward holding something resembling a wand and adjusting his goggles with his free hand. "Maybe we'll get more answers inside." He replaced the wand in a holster on his belt and gripped both door handles. Ignoring Sharif's plea for caution, the muscular Vavallan was surprised when the door handles actually came out of the door with a scraping sound and he saw that they were indeed attached to identical cutlasses. The golden blades were also emblazoned with the same red twisting language, and once they had been fully withdrawn, the doors slowly creaked outwards. Golden steps led down into darkness so black that even Vavallan eyesight was useless.

"Can we just take a holo of this thing and get out of here?" Bogdan asked, uncommonly nervous. "I don't like how this place feels."

"The youth speaks wisely," Sharif concurred. "I sense much dark magic down there."

"I can't transmit from this depth," Dagmar answered. "Grow a spine, you pair of sea jellies. It's a tomb, whatever's in there can't hurt anyone now. Anyway, Savage didn't want us to find the tomb....she tasked us with finding Anenkari, so let's go find Anenkari." He commanded the mini-subs to take up the rear and switched his goggles to sonar vision while simultaneously projecting beams of light from his polarised lenses so the others could see.

Dagmar Kollo floated down the long-hidden stairwell with the others close behind. Once they'd all passed the threshold, Dagmar suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Kollo?" Sharif approached. "What is it?"

<<<Anenkari feeds>>> The four travellers didn't hear the words so much as they felt them, like inky black ichor dripping onto their brain and imprinting on their consciousness. <<<Then Anenkari will live once more>>>

A mess of tendrils exploded forth from below, hundreds of tentacles composed of pure shadow and barely thicker than a hair each. Leading the group, Dagmar and Sharif never stood a chance. The black appendages wrapped around their limbs, their faces, and immediately the two men screamed and kept screaming. Dagmar dropped the blades in his throes of agony and grasped futilely for freedom. The tentacles ruptured Sharif's transuit and the pressure of nearly one thousand atmospheres instantly pulverized him into something that no longer resembled a person.

"Bogdan!" Oosa barked. "Dagmar is still alive, help me get him out of here!" She'd grabbed one of the ensnared man's arms and begun pulling with all her might. "Bogdan!!"

Bogdan Tarka had frozen in terror. Sharif's blood filled the air around them. He could taste it, he could feel it flowing hot through his gills. Dagmar thrashed violently, the lights in his goggles strobing through the darkness of the tentacles and the deep red cloud which had once been Sharif. Slowly as though emerging through some tunnel, Bogdan became conscious of someone calling his name and realised Oosa was screeching at him. Bogdan finally snapped out of it, but by the time he made a move forward Dagmar was hanging dead in the water and the tendrils had almost claimed Oosa as well. "I - I can't," the young Vavallan uttered almost silently. "I'm sorry, I can't!"

He turned to leave this evil place behind when Oosa's voice suddenly cut off and those black tendrils wrapped around Bogdan's ankle. "No!" Bogdan wailed in panic. "No, not me! Leave me alone!" He kicked helplessly, but soon both legs were entwined and he was slowly being dragged back into the stygian depths. Bogdan almost lost his mind then and there, screaming wordless sounds of terror as he brushed past the ash grey corpses of his fellow travellers into an unknowable void where there was no light and no sound.

<<<Anenkari will live once more>>>

The words were inside Bogdan now, thickening his blood with their presence and hardening his skin. He realised with mounting horror that the others had gotten off lightly; Anenkari had only fed on them. The dead god had needed that energy to transform Bogdan into his perfect host. Bogdan's next actions were not entirely conscious, and in coming days he would not be able to remember exactly what had transpired here. But his groping hands somehow found the cutlasses that Dagmar had dropped and he used them to hack off the tentacles binding him in hectic sweeps.

Unthinking, Bogdan Tarka swam from the tomb as fast and as far as he could.

**********

VAVALLA, PRESENT DAY

The top three floors of the luxurious Underrealms Resort and Casino were dedicated to the Olympus suite, Persephone Savage's decadent home base on this waterworld. She stood at the soundproofed glass which made up one whole outer wall of this space and watched as a tropical storm raged all around them. When the breathtakingly attractive woman turned around, she was holding a golden cutlass with its blade enscribed in jagged red patterning. Wearing a tight leather ensemble which accentuated all the right parts, Persephone Savage's three inch heels clacked as she crossed her marble floor to hand the weapon back to its current mistress. The woman named Cutlass nodded, sheathing her weapon as she fixed an ugly look on Turtle who sat defeated before them all. Turtle could also feel the glare of Sirensong, White Trident and Torpedo upon him; the only member of the Aquamarines not present was Skyfin, and that was because he currently held the life of Turtle's father in his hands somewhere else.

"Mr Tarka. You have told me repeatedly that you never found the tomb of Anenkari," Savage spoke as she casually paced the room. "Despite your coincidental manifestation of invulnerability at the same time you returned from that mission. Despite the fact that I sent four of you out and only one of you returned."

Turtle opened his mouth to speak, but Savage silenced him with a cold glare. "I'm not finished, Mr Tarka. You returned from that mission four years ago clearly traumatised, but you told me that you had no conscious memory of what had occurred. I didn't believe you of course; I've never believed you. But you gave me the blades which Cutlass now uses as a consolation prize of sorts, and I knew it would be more trouble than it was worth to try and torture an invulnerable man into revealing his secrets. So I decided to focus my efforts on the blades. And it has taken me four years, but I have finally found experts capable of deciphering the script on those blades. Did you know they are called the Seals of Anenkari, Mr Tarka? I imagine you didn't."

"Listen, Persephone," Turtle took his chance. "You don't have to do this. The whole reason I was coming here in the first place was to tell you I'm going to give you what you want. I'll take you to Anenkari's tomb, just...just let my dad go, okay?"

"You won't be taking me to Anenkari's tomb, Mr Tarka." Persephone gave him a tight-lipped smile. "You'll be taking the Aquamarines. They've proven their loyalty. Only when I'm satisfied that this isn't some childish trick you've cooked up will I make that journey myself...and once I have Anenkari's power at my command, then Senator Tarka will be free to go. Are we aligned on our goals, Mr Tarka?"

Turtle bowed his head glumly. "...We're aligned."

"Wonderful. Then I wish you the best of luck."

Turtle dwelled darkly on what was before them. He really didn't remember much of what had happened that day, but he knew one thing...

...he was going to need all the luck he could get.

**********

EDITOR'S NOTES:
Just to be clear, everything in the flashback in this section is home-made.

The Aquamarines are a pretty new bad guy addition to my series, you can read their intro here

The man named Turtle had an unwelcome sense of deja vu here near the Vavallan ocean floor. Like all Vavallans, Turtle was blue-skinned with large shiny black eyes. His fashionably unkempt brown hair, unblemished skin and athletic physique made him quite attractive by the standards of his people. The last time Turtle had visited this area of his homeworld he'd been accompanied by a crew of strangers and he'd gained his power of invulnerability.

This time around, he was similarly accompanied by a crew of strangers. At least, they were strangers to him. The Aquamarines however were well known to one another, and this put Turtle at a distinct disadvantage. Cutlass, White Trident, Sirensong and Torpedo had been on their guard around Turtle since the five of them had left Persephone Savage's side; even knowing that their final member Skyfin held Turtle's father captive far away from here, they didn't trust the invulnerable youth.

"I still don't understand why Savage didn't just let Sirensong do her thing and force him to tell us where the tomb of Anenkari is," White Trident complained to the group's de facto leader Cutlass. "We may not be able to kill him but we don't need him to tag along either."

"We presented that option," the beautiful Vavallan woman named Sirenson replied in her lilting voice. "Ms Savage told us that she did in fact utilise the services of two separate Titanians to pluck the secrets from the mind of Bogdan here when he first returned from his mission several years ago, and both of them ended up requiring quite significant psychiatric care afterwards. While she was not able to prove her hypothesis, Ms Savage believes that contact with the dead god has created a kind of psychic minefield for anybody trying to actively probe Bogdan's mind beyond a superficial level."

"Invulnerable inside and out, huh?" Cutlass taunted Turtle. "Too bad your heart's ripe for exploitation, huh?"

"I'm not ashamed of loving people," Turtle shot back. "Not that I'd expect any of you to know anything about that. Don't worry though, I'll do my part. Just so long as you slimebags let my dad go after all of this."

The Aquamarines' smirks and snide chuckles told Bogdan Tarka everything he needed to know about how much he could trust them. He didn't care about any of that, he just hoped his actions wouldn't hurt the one person he did trust to help him get out of this.

**********

TWO VAVALLAN WEEKS AGO

Sitting on one seat of a plush modular couch in her Vavallan home with a leg tucked beneath her, Tayla Skott flicked her head to one side. Annoyed at herself, her brow furrowed slightly. Until recently she'd had slick hair reaching down to her waist, but the mercenary Cutlass had recently cut most of that off and Tayla still had the body language of someone who was used to having long hair getting in her way.

"You okay, gorgeous?" Bogdan Tarka sat cross-legged on a brightly coloured rug before her. "I know that was a lot to take in..."

Cutlass and the rest of the Aquamarines had fought Turtle, Lamprey and some of their friends just over a week ago and for most of that time Turtle had been playing dumb about the reason for their assault. The person he once was would have left Tayla without explanation or goodbye and tried to find somewhere far from the reach of the Aquamarines and the woman who'd hired them, Persephone Savage. He had become attached to Lamprey though, and he found that he couldn't live with the idea of abandoning her to possible future attacks without even telling her why the Aquamarines had fought them to begin with.

So Turtle had decided to come clean with Lamprey...he told her everything he remembered of the tragic quest for Anenkari's tomb which had left three people dead and himself with the power of invulnerability. He told her how he'd left Vavalla and chosen a life in the interstellar criminal underworld not just from a love of adventure but also because it was the only way a traumatised young man could conceive to escape an obscenely wealthy mastermind, a predatory god, and acceptance of his own mistakes...and now he was certain that a disgusted Tayla would leave him to his own devices as he probably well deserved.

Lamprey almost came back with something snappy and sarcastic, but she bit her tongue at the last instant. Their whole relationship until now had been based on surface level flirting with only the barest acknowledgement of any deeper feelings, but she realised that Turtle was for the first time the more vulnerable of them and she wanted him to know she respected that. "Bogdan...thank you for sharing that with me. I know it couldn't have been easy. Listen, Savage is going to keep coming after you - and me and S'jn - until she gets what she wants, right?"

"That's what I'm scared of," Turtle admitted. "I mean not for me, but...you tricked me into falling for you, ya filthy cop. I'm worried about you, I can't just turn that off." He gave her a cocky smile which was somehow at the same time awkwardly self-conscious.

"Then let's give her what she wants." She climbed down onto the floor with him and clutched his hands in the space between them. "I've got an idea, but full disclosure...you're gonna have to put yourself at a lot more risk than me."

"Hey, Risk is my middle name." He brought her hands up and kissed her knuckles.

"You nasshead," Tayla gave him a playful punch. "You told me Sexy was your middle name!"

"It's a Vavallan thing," he shrugged. "We've got a ton of 'em, we just pull 'em out as the situation demands. Anyway, tell me about this plan, I can't wait to hear what the Science Police put in that gorgeous head of yours."

"This one's a little less Science Police and a little more Legion Academy," Lamprey responded. "Let's just say Duplicate Damsel has a surprisingly vast resource of sneakiness to impart on her students..."

**********

NOW

Clutching the handles of a Science Police Subaquatic Propulsion Vehicle, Tayla Skott powered through the Vavallan depths at great speed. A flatscreen display mounted in the dashboard of the sleek machine translated sonar waves into an easy to read map of the sea floor and also allowed her to follow the bugged tracer she'd had Turtle swallow when they embarked on this scheme. So far, everything had gone exactly as Lamprey had planned. The device in Turtle's gut had relayed everything he'd discussed with Persephone Savage to SP ears, and Tayla's fellow officers had tracked Skyfin's transmission and were right now awaiting Lamprey's signal to rescue Senator Tarka.

Turtle's signal had stopped moving, so once Lamprey was a couple hundred feet away she switched the SPV's motor off and allowed momentum to carry her a little way further. The SPV had been designed to run almost silently, but she still didn't want to take the chance of being detected just yet...not while her own ocean-adapted legs could propel her almost as fast and far more quietly. The darkness down here was disorienting, but the advantage of being somewhere so utterly devoid of life worked in Tayla's favor in one way at least; her normally useless bioelectric perception would easily pick up any approaching lifeforms.

She soon came within visual range of Turtle and the Aquamarines. While Lamprey was engulfed in darkness, they had a few floating lights to illuminate their surrounding area. They had congregated around some kind of golden doorway sunken into the ground with its doors swung wide open and held that way by the sand which had accrued there over the years. Turtle was having an agitated discussion with the villains, and it didn't seem as though they were in any hurry to listen to him.

When Turtle had told Lamprey about the tomb of Anenkari, he hadn't quite been able to recall exactly what it looked like but Tayla reasoned that this must be it. Most likely, being down here was awakening memories he'd long ago suppressed and had allowed him to eventually lead them here...at least, Tayla thought, I hope that's all it is.

She'd left signal boosters floating between here and the surface, so she sent a transmission to the Science Police to mount their rescue of Turtle's father and pondered her next move. Cutlass was skilled with her blades, but she couldn't harm Turtle and she had no ranged attack. White Trident did have a ranged attack, but Lamprey was confident that she could evade him long enough for Turtle to take him out. Sirensong's hypnotic voice and Torpedo's speed were her two major threats right now and she wondered how she should choose which one to deal with first. What would Bouncing Boy do? she asked herself. What would Duplicate Damsel do? The answer came to her easily...with Charles Foster Taine's power to ricochet from one target to another and Luornu Durgo Taine's ability to create an army of herself, they wouldn't need to choose a single target.

In the darkness, Lamprey smiled wickedly....

**********

"None of you get it!" Turtle protested at the Aquamarines. "This isn't a power source that Savage can steal, it's real bad news! Sure, I got toughened up last time I was here but three other people died!"

"I feel really bad for you," Cutlass gave Turtle a look of mocking pity. "Must be difficult being indestructible."

"Let's get on with this," Torpedo added curtly. "What do we need to know before we go in there, Turtle? Wait...does anyone hear that?" He looked around curiously, and a moment later the massive villain was knocked back by the impact of something metallic and three feet long.

"The Science Police?" White Trident recognised the logo on the errant SPV and had already drawn his signature weapon. "What the qrot are they doing all the way down here?" Before anybody could attempt to answer, an energy bolt lit up the ocean and Sirensong arched her back and sputtered as she was vividly electrocuted into unconsciousness.

"It's not the Science Police!" White Trident hollered. "It's Lamprey!" Swinging his trident around, he aimed for the attack's point of origin and fired a sonic beam into the darkness.

"I'm both actually," Tayla's voice came from the inky blackness. She unleashed another electrical blast, this time striking the musclebound villain.

White Trident grimaced through the pain, then fired once more. This time the focused vibrations hit Lamprey head on, and she yelped in pain as she was hurtled back into the ocean depths.

"That's my girlfriend!" Turtle snapped, punching White Trident full force in the jaw. Though he was no stronger than any other Vavallan, his indestructible form meant he could strike with more force. Already hurt by Lamprey's attack, White Trident staggered.

Enraged beyond rational thought, White Trident swung his weapon back toward Turtle. Just as the whine of his sonic assault began to sound, Turtle grabbed the shaft of the trident with both hands and used all his strength to redirect it slightly.

Turtle barely felt the weapon's sonic vibrations; Torpedo wasn't so lucky. The burly criminal had come shooting straight back into action with the mangled SPV in hand, intending to batter someone with it. When White Trident's sonic vibrations struck the damaged vehicle, it exploded in Torpedo's grip and knocked him out cold.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted!" White Trident raved at Turtle. "I knew it!" He wrenched the trident free from Turtle's grasp and with his anger overriding his rationality, he plunged it toward Turtle's chest.

Predictably, the tines of the trident deformed as they smashed against the invulnerable man. A moment later, crackling bioelectricity surrounded both of the men and White Trident joined most of the other Aquamarines in unconsciousness.

"You okay, gorgeous?" Turtle swam toward Lamprey, the nimbus of her power now in full effect and leaving her quite visible.

"I've been better," she winced. "That trident's no fun...your dad's safe by the way, everything worked out just the way we planned it. Hey, wait a nano...where's Cutlass?"

Simultaneously, they both spotted Cutlass standing right in front of the doors to Anenkari's tomb. Her mane of auburn hair writhed in slow motion behind her and she held a golden blade in each hand primed to fight. "Hey!" Turtle called out. "Get away from there, you stupid fem!"

Cutlass mumbled something in reply, but neither Turtle nor Lamprey were close enough to make it out. She swayed slightly, then took one step toward the entrance. Suddenly it all came rushing back to Turtle; the eldritch tentacles, the way the others had been drained of their lifeforce the last time he'd been down here...his mouth dropped open and he stared with wide shining eyes as he floated there in shock.

"Turtle?" Lamprey touched his shoulder. "...Bogdan? Are you--" She never got to finish her question because Cutlass's panicked cry demanded her attention.

Tayla saw what Bogdan had seen here years ago; a mass of fibrous appendages which exploded forth from the darkness inside that cursed tomb and latched on to their newest prey anywhere they could. Without a second thought, Lamprey swam forward to help the woman named Cutlass.

Cutlass had already begun swinging her enchanted weapons, and with great skill, but the dead god had been denied his objective three years ago and he'd been waiting here in the stygian depths ever since for another opportunity to escape; he wasn't about to let that opportunity go to waste. Cutlass screamed in defiance, fear and pain as a dozen more pitch black tendrils grabbed at her for every one she sliced away.

"Give me your hand!" Lamprey bellowed at her. The villainess peered back over her shoulder to see that Tayla had braced herself against the outer door and one lime green arm reached out toward her. Tayla saw the suspicion in her eyes and shook her head impatiently. "Cutlass, I'm going to put you in jail but that thing's going to eat you! Now give me your sprocking hand, if it could leave the tomb on its own it would have done that already! We just need to pull you out of its reach!"

Making her decision, Cutlass sheathed one of her blades and gripped the hand that Lamprey offered. With her free hand she hacked away as best she could, but she was beginning to be overwhelmed. "I'm better off on my own!" she snarled. "I can use both swords that way!"

"Nobody's better off on their own!" Lamprey snapped back. "Turtle, help us!" Tayla had assumed that Turtle was by her side, but when she turned back she saw him floating some way back, his face a mask of mute terror. "Turtle!!" she yelled more sharply.

It was as though Bogdan Tarka were right back there watching Oosa, Dagmar and Sharif being devoured by this thing three years ago. The tendrils started climbing up Lamprey's own arm now, and her screams joined those of Cutlass. Bogdan had just been a helpless teenager on his last visit here, by the time he'd chosen to act it was too late for those strangers who'd come here with him. Tayla wasn't a stranger though, and Bogdan was no longer a helpless teenager.

Roaring a wordless but cathartic cry, he rushed forward and with a mighty adrenalin rush helped Lamprey pull all three of them free as Cutlass cut the last of the hair thin tendrils away from them. The three of them disturbed the ocean floor as they toppled backward, and the many weakened appendages of Anenkari crawled out across the sand desperately hoping for sustenance to restore the dead god's life.

"The swords!" Turtle half-gasped, half-yelled.

"What--?" Both women looked back at him.

"Those cutlasses are the keys!" he bellowed more coherently. "The Seals of Anenkari! Now lock the sprocking doors!!"

"This is way above my pay grade," Cutlass sheathed her second blade. "You two wanna play heroes, you deal with it!" She moved one arm forward to swim away, but before she could complete the motion an electrified green fist slammed into her jaw.

"One each." As Cutlass floated there insensate, Lamprey claimed the golden blade the villain had just put away. "We can do this, Bogdan."

Turtle looked back once more at the lightless black, then at the second cutlass. Swallowing his fear, he wrapped his hand around the hilt and swam to one of the two massive golden doors. Though it took a supreme effort from both of them, Lamprey and Turtle closed the doors to the tomb then both of them sheathed the blades in the slots from which they'd been drawn three long years ago.

Exhausted, the two of them floated there by the door for long minutes before Tayla turned to face Bogdan. "I've got a question for you, pal," she asked with a weary smile. "What is it with you and dead gods anyway??"

"Now you know why I left Vavalla in the first place," Turtle gave her an equally tired chuckle. "This planet's lousy with 'em."

Too hurt and fatigued to do anything more, Tayla reached out one bright green arm and intertwined her fingers with his. She too began to chuckle, and for a little while the coldest black depths of Vavalla were home to the hopeful laughter of two young lovers.

**********

EDITOR'S NOTES:
Lamprey's snark at the end about Turtle's bad luck with dead gods is a reference to their first "on-panel" appearance together in my series, in which Lamprey and a few Legionnaires had to rescue poor Turtle from yet another undersea deity...more details here, this is probably relevant as it's where I decided to have Turtle and Lamprey eventually end up together and now here we are eight years later and they're cute as hell

I was going to have an epilogue with Persephone Savage, but I didn't wanna spoil the nice closer on Lamprey and Turtle...there will be some touching on what happened afterwards in my main series pretty soon though, so stay tuned!

ooooh this is amazing, raz!

that last line, a dagger in his heart. yeowch.

nice to see Sludge show up, hee! Lamprey's takedown was boss

Turtle enjoying the view was a nice bit. also him being sorry to the attendant whose uniform he stole. he's a good guy at heart!

Whoa! Sludge, it was all an act! I did not expect that!!! Well done!

whoa. Turtle is the host of Anenkari? yikes!

the scene at the tomb was exceptionally well-written!

Your description of Turtle as an attractive charmer... I like it, heh. He definitely fits the genre. Swashbuckling charmer type hero.

I like the explanation for why Sirensong can't just use her powers on Turtle.

Man, I love the character development and sense you show, having Turtle confide EVERYTHING to Lamprey. And also, how her screaming his name bothered him earlier. So cool! So well done, and such a sign of a mature relationship. Also, good acting on their (and Sludge's) parts! Also the explanation for why Turtle turned to crime - as a way to hide

Whoa! so Turtle was NOT possessed 3 years ago, cool! Like how the cutlasses were the key. Lamprey helping Cutlass, and Turtle redeeming himself by saving them... all well done!

Lovely ending, with Senator Tarka also safe! well done, extremely well done, raz! take a bow!

Oh, this is wonderful! Great character picks, raz! Lamprey and Turtle are definitely two characters from their respective continuities that I wanted to know more about. (Indeed, the only thing I knew about Turtle was that he was invulnerable, a Doopan, whatever that is, and was mentioned later as being 'the second best martial artist they'd seen, after Karate Kid.')

I love aquatic stuff, and Lamprey is ideally suited for underwater adventures, as is Turtle, for that matter!

I enjoyed the characterization. We'd seen little of Lamprey's over the years, and none of Turtle's, really, so you are kind of wide open to bring them to life, which you have indeed done. It is also neat to see Sludge again. He's hardly my favorite of that little Threeboot clique, but he's got potential and a unique enough power!

Thanks y'all! I am glad you enjoyed it...I have to admit, it was kind of cool being able to give Lamprey and especially Turtle more development than I usually get a chance to!

Sludge is a bit of an underdog favourite of mine but I haven't really had an excuse to use him for ages so it was fun getting to write him actually serving a purpose other than comedy relief...I think Fruit Boy is probably last on my list of Legion losers to try and give credibility to for the time being, one day I will get to him!

IB - the bit you mentioned with Sirensong was a bit of course correction to be honest....I realised after the fact I had someone on hand who could just give Turtle the ol' mental whammy and so I had to quickly concoct a reason it wouldn't have worked lol

Set - I actually totally forgot they gave Turtle a homeworld in the comics already! I'm pretty sure I just picked Vavalla because of that fake wedding story with Ultra Boy/Phantom Girl and Saturn Girl/Lightning Lad in the 60s (and because Vavalla is pretty fun to say out loud)

I might get around to doing one of these again sometime, god knows I have enough story ideas for secondary characters that will never see the light of day otherwise

Would love to see more like this, raz!!

heh I do course corrections all the time nice save re Sirensong!

Well, *clearly*, Doopa is just another name for Vavalla, just as 'Earth' is another word for 'Terra.' No need to go any further than that.

The resort sounds idyllic, and love how the guests are vetted, though pretty awful that none of te indigenous population ever took a vacation there - kind of like the Colonial estates and retreats in places like Kenya where you couldn't get in unless you had the right connections. Awful places, though I imagine the residents thought they were great.

Sludge! Yay, one of my favourite B-Listers! It's fun when he appears and this scene would look amazing in picture form with te contrast between the beautiful sceney and his rather disgusting abilities.

Nice touch that the security drones defer to the SP.

Since when do Lamprey's powers only work underwater? Is this a limit you've set in place? I though she could electrocute things wherever she was? Though, nice resolve with her just zapping him with her gun.

Loved the lift not giving Turtle access, haha technology doesn't always make lives easier. The observation deck sounds like somewhere to go - 112 levels up, what a view! Oh well, at least he got to enjoy the view before being caught. Nicely written tussle with the security droids btw.

Persephone Savage, what a great name for a truly despicable person. You'd think that a senator would have protection against thugs like Savage,but it really highlights how powerful her organisation is that they can kidnap and hold him as a hostage.

Nice scene with Lamprey and sludge - and you've given him a character beyond being the Vice-Chancellor's son, well done, in particular the throwaway that his people can't process caffiene. It's troubling though that in the 31st there are still videogames stealing people's attention... oh well, I watched my son obsess over them for years and years and grew to really dislike them, but that's just me.

So, Turtle' origin at last - it's pretty horrific really. Anenkari sounds particularly unpleasant. So, ofcourse, Turtle will have to face the dark god again! Nice having those two scenes together - firstly to introduce the horrible threat, then to get turtle to return to face it.

I do like your Aquamarines, both a fun name and group of characters. Poor Bogdan having to put up with them. And nice reason why his mind can't be probed, invulnerable inside and out, indeed.

Haha Vavallan middle names. And why am I nt surprised that Lu would teach her students how to be sneaky?

Turtle swallowing a tracker that could relay the conversations around him was a clever move, nice! And typical ex-Academy student going in by herself, when Lamprey could easily have gotten some back up. What would BB and DD do? Ha, nice that Tayla still refers back to her Academy training when in a tight spot. Good use of the SPV to take out a threat like that. Nice little fight scene. Poor Cutlass, can't be fun being godfood. Turtle's PTSD was well done, it's doubtful he would be able to charge in straight away when facing that horror again. Though clever of hm to realise that the swords were the key to locking the god away.

Nice ending with Lamprey and Turtle victorious, and "This planet's lousy with them!" was a great line.

This was such a fun story Raz, one of your best yet! Looking forward to whatever you bring to the board next, more, more, more!

Works for me!

I was kinda going for something like that, I bet there's a lot of high-end places where the local population don't get to enjoy the benefits themselves...as utopian as the Legion's future is, I would imagine there's always going to be wealthy people exploiting less wealthy people somewhere or other...

re: Lamprey - you know what, I think I just convinced myself at some point that she can only use her powers underwater Every time I see a reference to her zapping someone in the open air it takes me by surprise! I have no idea where I got this from (probably the same place where I got the idea Xerox was spelled like that and Grev's superhero name was Shadow Lad instead of Shadow Kid) but I'm okay with keeping it as a limitation though, it does kind of help to explain why she was never considered Legion material.

I did consider having Lamprey bring in some SP backup, but I didn't want to make it too easy for her...I justified it as her not wanting to expose anyone else to the danger of being possessed or eaten by Anenkari, but we can probably assume she got chewed out for it when she got back to base!

Glad you liked it, Harbi! Lamprey and Turtle will be popping up again sooner or later, and Persephone Savage will be rearing her very evil head again at some stage too

Hey Raz,
Finally getting a chance to check out this mini-series!
I enjoyed Lamprey and Turtle tales when they were in the main series. So i'm looking forward to see where this goes!

Sludge being sludge. Totally confused him with Bile for a moment.
Yes! i love when characters do more than just what their powers allow them too. Lamprey is a true SP these days it seems. Kind of love that she came with only some droids to back her up. Tayla is confident which is great to see!
Bogdan! what are you doing? go back with Lamprey!

i enjoyed Turtle's time trying to sneak in to the white tower's upper floors. He played it pretty smart, but i'm with him. i'd want to take in that view as well.
And of course his luck runs out...
Wow, she is savage. "It's not like i haven't stopped." that was a chilling moment.

so wait this was all a plan? damn I honestly didn't see that coming.
I really liked how Sludge was happy to help. maybe he can turn over a new leaf and actually be a hero!

Bodgan and his team are on the hunt for a dead god's temple? that doesn't sound like a good idea...
Oh Bogdan ever the flirt. I bet him and Dirk would get along great. lol.
Wow! Bogdan's team was decimated!
the image of Sharif imploding was gruesome!
wait so Bogdan's powers come from a ancient god?

the Return of the Aquamarines? this could be interesting and very bad, if that god is still down there...
The Aquamarines are evil. that's just plan it and i hope Bogdan can get to his dad!

i really do love Turtle and Lamprey as a couple and how they respond to each other.
I also love how she's the one whose making him want to change for the better.
lol i love that she's like i learned it from Duplicate Damsel! and slightly shocked it was her idea. But if Bodgan ran that far to get away it makes sense to a degree.
That is super smart of Lamprey. the signal boosters, Bogdan swallowing the bug to get the evidence. all great things!
Damn they made short work of them! when in the right circumstances Lamprey is pretty powerful!

Come on Cutless! just take Lamprey's help!
Bogdan snap out of it! thank goodness he did! Exactly not the same scared kid he used to be.

This was a fun and short mini! i'd be happy to see them pop up again and so glad they were able to defeat the god. But something tells me this won't be the last time Bogdan has to deal with him.
Great job and fun adventure!

Hi Omni, thanks for reading! I forgot about this little side story!

It was fun writing it, I am glad you liked it! I have another couple of underwater adventures lined up for Lamprey and Turtle actually, I don't think I will get to them for a while though!